Critics target Taika Waititi adaptation Klara and the Sun ahead of release

Film critics have widely panned Taika Waititi’s feature adaptation of Klara and the Sun ahead of its scheduled 23 October theatrical release. Gold Derby and IndieWire both report that reviewers described the dystopian fable as awful, with The Hollywood Reporter calling the production a wretched mess that relies on forced humor and cloying whimsy. [1][3][4][6]

The project is an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel, with a screenplay written by Waititi and Dahvi Waller. Next Best Picture and The Hollywood Reporter both report that the feature stars Jenna Ortega as an artificial intelligence android, alongside a main cast including Amy Adams, Mia Tharia, Aran Murphy, Steve Buscemi, and Natasha Lyonne. [1][2][3][11]

According to Collider, the reception makes Klara and the Sun the lowest-reviewed film of Waititi’s directorial career. The creative setback follows official confirmation from Collider that Waititi’s planned Star Wars feature, which had been in development since 2020, has been put on indefinite hold. As FTMQ Film & TV reported earlier, the film previously held its world premiere at the London Film Festival on 15 October. [5][6][14][15]

Waititi won an Academy Award for screenwriting and was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2022. Addressing the press during promotional coverage, Waititi stated that while the integration of artificial intelligence into film production is probably inevitable, utilizing prompts to create films remains boring and lame, according to The Hollywood Reporter. [7][10]